Could Saturday be D-Day for Zimbabwe?

Saturday’s special meeting of the Southern African Development Community in Maputo could be the final decider on whether Zimbabwe holds its elections before the end of July or not.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai already seems to have put himself in a fix. He said today that he would not agree to hold any elections in July, especially if President Robert Mugabe sets the date alone.

Mugabe, who has been labelled as a scheming survivor, has not yet set a date, but has said he would abide by the Constitutional Court decision to hold the elections before the end of July.

Tsvangirai says Mugabe cannot set the date without his agreement, but this is an argument that has raged for over four years which Tsvangirai has lost.

He has failed to reverse the appointments of central bank governor Gideon Gono and attorney-general Johannes Tomana.

At least four other parties agree with Tsvangirai that it is not practical to hold the elections before the end of July.

The business community says the sooner the elections are held, the better as the uncertainty is costing them dearly. It even says it does not care who wins.

Elections chief Rita Makarau said she needs 44 days notice to hold the elections which gives Mugabe until June 17 to announce the date if they are to be held by end of July.

SADC is meeting on 15 June which means that if it gives its clearance, Mugabe can still call the elections for end of July.

There has been media speculation that ZANU-PF is not ready for the elections because it has not held its primary elections but party spokesman, Rugare Gumbo said that was a one-day affair.

The MDC has held most of its primary elections but still has to conclude them in some constituencies.

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